Consultant-Influenza Surveillance Review

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Friday 22 Apr 2022 at 21:59 UTC

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  1. Purpose of the Consultancy

The short-term consultant will provide in-country technical assistance to support a review of influenza programme including surveillance systems in Cambodia. The work will emphasize the optimization of current influenza surveillance systems for an integrated respiratory disease surveillance system for the future.

  1. Background

Surveillance systems need to provide the necessary information to those who need to know so that timely and effective decisions can be made. Such key information will often differ by disease, as diseases differ in epidemiologic features such as mode of transmission, generation time, and their ability to cause acute outbreaks. Moreover, the relative importance in the type of data and the desired timeliness can also change over time, as in a pandemic influenza situation, as the type and intensity of response measures can depend on the stage of an outbreak. Surveillance systems thus also need to be flexible and adaptable to respond to contextual decision-making needs. The Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies (APSED III), in fact, encourages countries to review existing surveillance systems for their ability to generate information for decision making. Such reviews may provide entry-points for streamlining and/or optimizing systems for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability (in their ability to generate information for decision-making); in the process, additional information sources may also be identified to facilitate the decision-making process.

During the ongoing COVID-19 response, a number of countries adapted influenza surveillance system to monitor SARS-CoV-2 and inform response decision making. This is an opportunity to leverage and greatly expand capacities established to respond to COVID-19 and to strengthen preparedness for emerging high threat respiratory pathogens, including coronaviruses, novel influenza virus, and other respiratory pathogens. The COVID-19 pandemic has also reinforced the concept that the control of respiratory diseases of zoonotic origin requires enhanced coordination and active collaboration across animal and human health sectors. Therefore, a future human respiratory disease surveillance system will also need to consider the functional links with other sectors as part of preparedness and early detection.

This review aims to:

  • Envision the future of respiratory disease surveillance and back cast the key steps/areas required to reach the vision;
  • Document current status, understand and evaluate system components of influenza surveillance in Cambodia;
  • Identify the key strengths and weaknesses in the current system (including coordination, ownership laboratory), in the context of supporting timely decision-making for response;
  • Propose feasible short-term and long-term key necessary steps to develop a robust surveillance for influenza and other respiratory pathogens in the future taking into consideration national, regional and global developments and using a One Health approach for zoonotic respiratory pathogens;
  • Propose a plan of action, develop a feasible roadmap, and initiate steps to help Cambodia to achieve desired system.
  1. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation)

The proposed implementation timeline is from May – October 2022 with physical field support to Cambodia from May through July to conduct the full review exercise. The fieldwork for in-country data and information collection and discussions will be done over a period of two weeks with an international and national joint team during this period.

  1. Work to be performed

Method(s) to carry out the activity

In close coordination with WHE Cambodia staff and the Ministry of Health, and under the supervision of WHO Cambodia WHE Team Lead, the consultant will perform the following activities:

Outputs:

Output 1: Implementation of the necessary preparation and in-country field review of the influenza programme:

  • Desk review of current influenza programme including the ILI, SARI, SRI surveillance systems from different sources (SOPs, surveillance reports, FETP fellows reports, previous consultancy reports)
  • Review current status of case detection, data management and dissemination and laboratory surveillance (e.g. review of system attributes)
  • Review current status of communication and coordination between human and animal health for surveillance and outbreak response for zoonotic respiratory pathogens
  • Coordinate and organize the two-week field visits including site visits, interviews with key stakeholders and data analysis
  • SWOT analysis of surveillance systems to be validated during the field mission

Output 2: Contributions to the development of national respiratory disease surveillance system:

  • Facilitate the development of the vision of future respiratory disease surveillance using a One health approach through a consultative process
  • Based on the vision and current systems make recommendations for:
    • Surveillance objectives — early detection of next respiratory event, focusing on use of multisource information and genomic surveillance
    • Strategic areas and key activities necessary to reach the vision based on what is in place and what is required (roadmap)
    • Inclusion of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens into existing influenza programme
    • Areas of collaboration and coordination on respiratory disease surveillance between human and animal sectors under One Health
  • Proposed solutions to identified problems/challenges that:
    • Provide early access to data to monitor changes in disease occurrence and detect disease outbreaks to enable timely and informed response
    • Consider software, hardware, database and data format standards
    • Are feasible and sustainable in terms of financial and human resource investment in the short and long term, based on a realistic time-frame (possibly a phased implementation)
    • Are in line with existing regulations, guidelines and legislation e.g. privacy laws, International Health Regulations (IHR)
  • Initiate steps to help Cambodia achieve desired system based on recommendations and road map

Deliverables:

  • Deliverable 1: Organize and facilitate the 2-week in-country review mission with international experts in collaboration with MOH
  • Deliverable 2: Presentation of findings and recommendations including the vision of the future respiratory disease surveillance system
  • Deliverable 3: Report with clear analysis and recommendations on how to improve the current influenza system, and a road map of activities to achieve the future respiratory disease surveillance
  • Deliverable 4: Update existing documents including SOPs for respiratory disease surveillance
  • Deliverable 5: Develop comprehensive training and ongoing supervision package for sites to support respiratory disease surveillance
  1. Technical Supervision

The selected Consultant will work under the supervision of:

Responsible Officer:

Technical Officer

Email:

Manager:

Team Leader

Email:

  1. Specific requirements

- Educational attainment:

  • Highest level degree (doctorate) in the field of public health, epidemiology, or other related health sciences

- Experience required:

  • At least ten years of relevant professional experience in epidemiology, surveillance and data interpretation, with focus on communicable disease control.
  • Specific experience with influenza surveillance or respiratory pathogen surveillance systems in low resource settings
  • Experience in coordination of technical agencies/partners to support Ministries of Health in developing countries
  • Experience with WHO programmes is an advantage

- Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

  • Highly proficient in epidemiologic concepts and assessments.
  • Proven ability to work in multidisciplinary teams at the international level
  • Demonstrated expertise in facilitating and coordinating country missions
  • Demonstrated ability to successfully plan, organize, deliver activities and meet deadlines
  • Capacity to plan and conduct operational activities at country level

- Language requirements:

  • Written and spoken fluency in English is essential.
  1. Competencies
  • Teamwork
  • Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
  • Communication
  • Producing result
  • Ensuring effective use of resources
  1. Place of assignment

Homebased and in Cambodia (to be agreed upon based on workplan)

  1. Medical clearance

The Consultant will provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.

  1. Travel

The Consultant is expected to travel according to the itinerary and estimated schedule below:

Travel dates

Location:

From

Purpose:

All travel arrangements will be made by WHO – WHO will not be responsible for tickets purchased by the Consultant without the express, prior authorization of WHO. While on mission under the terms of this consultancy, the Consultant will receive subsistence allowance.

Visas requirements: it is the consultant’s responsibility to fulfil visa requirements and ask for visa support letter(s) if needed.

  • WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
  • WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: who.int